The present invention is directed to a semiconductor device and method for forming a semiconductor device, and particularly, a semiconductor device, including at least one passive element, adapted for use in wireless communication systems.
Many electronic devices currently suffer design and resulting performance limitations in view of the state of semiconductor device fabrication technology. Wireless communication systems, for example, generally contain relatively few semiconductor chips, but several hundred passive elements. As efforts continue to enhance form factor and power reduction, and to improve performance and functionality at frequencies on the order of 109 Hz or higher, it has become desirable to integrate passive elements into separate chips or modules and onto active substrates (such as silicon-containing substrates).
A variety of on-chip capacitor and resistor technologies currently exist, examples of which include double-poly, gate-oxide or junction capacitors or diffused silicon or poly silicon resistors. Many applications would benefit from an improvement in performance characteristics resulting from these technologies. For example, improvement is sought in the areas of reducing parasitic capacitance, improving voltage linearity, reducing electrode series resistance or reducing 1/f noise. It is also desired that resulting devices be integrated into the backend of an active substrate (e.g., Si-chip), heretofore not accomplished using existing technology.